Piano Man
by ArieiDelmonte
Summary: Draco does something unusual for Dumbledore... oneshot, a little romance, but not much.


Piano Man

Draco stretched out his fingers and sat down on the bench in front of him. He looked to the left and to the right, and seeing no one, gently set his fingers on the keys. The ivory was cold to the touch, but that was the way Draco liked it. He pressed down a C chord and felt the piano vibrate under his touch. He began to play a slow song that gradually built into a happy song.

Unbeknownst to him, another human had come into the room. She stood in the dark recesses of the room and listened to his song. She smirked and folded her arms across her chest. Draco finished his song and the woman stepped out of the shadows. She clapped her hand. Draco jumped off the bench, startled.

"Pansy, what are you doing here? How long have you been there?" Draco demanded alarmed. Pansy sashayed over to Draco and put her hand on his bicep.

"That was beautiful, Draco. Why haven't I heard you play before?" Pansy replied.

"I don't like to play in front of people."

"Play one more happy song for me, please Draco?"

After much pleading, Draco relented and played Pansy a drinking song. She swayed a long in time with the music. When Draco finished, she begged him to play it again. He did what she asked and played until late in the night.

"Oh, Draco! You have made me so happy. You must play for all of Slytherin tomorrow."

"Pans, I … I couldn't. I can't play in front of people."

"Hmm… it looks to me like you just played in front of someone or are you saying that I'm not a person?"

"You're different."

"Please, Draco, please. You can lift everyone's spirits in this dark time. You can make people forget their sorrows and troubles for a while," Pansy pleaded. "Please Draco."

Draco thought about it, looked at his best friend, -a friend who had been there through thick and thin, broken nails and split ends- and finally nodded his head.

"I supposed so, although I probably won't play very well."

Pansy clapped her hands and hugged Draco. "Thank you so much, but now I think we'd better get to bed."

"Pansy, it's dawn already, we better start getting ready for classes. I know it will take you that long."

Pansy smiled at Draco gratefully. "You know me all too well, Draco, darling."

Draco smiled. "Yes, yes I do."

Draco and Pansy gave each other a funny grin and went to their dormitories.

That night Draco nervously walked up to the piano in the common room. Word had spread around during the day and many people had come to hear Draco play. Pansy was standing near the piano.

"Pans, I don't know if I can play. There are so many people here. I think there's even some people from Ravenclaw here," Draco said tensely.

"Draco," Pansy said putting her hands on Draco's shoulders, "you can too do it. I believe in you. I know you can."

Draco nodded, but he didn't believe her. He sat down on the bench and stretched out his fingers. He set them on the keys, but took them off again. Draco took a deep breath. Pansy laid a hand on his shoulder. It gave him comfort and he started playing a song. It started out jittery, but as Draco played, he got more comfortable. The song burst forth in all its glory and the Slytherin, whether they were with the Dark Side or the Light Side, thought that it was beautiful. If they knew the words, they sang along. If not, they just hummed along.

The Slytherin made Draco play until his fingers hurt from all the playing he had done. The all clapped when he insisted that they all go to bed and let him rest up his fingers. They continued to make Draco play every single night. Eventually, word got around to all of Hogwarts and the student body was dying to hear Draco play. Dumbledore called Draco to his office one day.

"Draco, I have been hearing some things about you," Dumbledore stated. Draco nervously shifted from one foot to the other. _What could he have heard about? What have I done recently?_

"Oh. And what would those things happen to be?" Draco questioned, trying to keep his voice steady.

Dumbledore steepled his fingers. "I have noticed that the Slytherins seem to be very happy these days and a little bird told me that it has to do with you."

Draco heaved a giant, silent sigh of relief. It was just his piano playing.

"Yes, sir. I have been playing the piano for them. If you would like me to stop I will. I wasn't sure if I was breaking the rules," Draco said. It wasn't like him to apologize, but he was rather hoping Dumbledore would say that he had to stop. He had never exercised his fingers more in his life.

"Actually, Mr. Malfoy, I have a different idea for you," Dumbledore's eyes twinkled. "I want you to play in the Great Hall every night after dinner until curfew. If you have to be a very minutes late back to your room after everyone leaves, I'm sure I could arrange that."

Draco was stunned. Not in all his wildest dreams could he have imagined that. He mutely nodded his consent. Draco got up to leave, but Dumbledore stopped him.

"Mr. Malfoy, I was wondering if you had any ideas on improvements that we could make to the Great Hall while you are doing your playing."

Draco stopped and sat back down on his chair. _What improvements could be made on the Great Hall? They could put some beanbag chairs and couches scattered around the place. Hmm… and dim the lights and make it all smoky. No wait, that wouldn't be very good, forget the smoke._ Draco came upon an epiphany. _I know we can make it like a piano bar!_

Draco told Dumbledore his thoughts and waited for his thoughts.

"Interesting ideas, Mr. Malfoy. I think we might just do that. Yes, have the bean bag chairs and the bar will serve butterbeer and such. Yes, what a novel idea," Dumbledore said finally. "But we'd need someone to serve the drinks. Do you know someone that could do that?"

Draco smiled. He knew the perfect person that would do that.

"Pansy Parkinson would be prefect for the job of head waitress."

Dumbledore stood up and motioned for Draco to do the same.

"Now that we have all this settled. I think you should get back to class Young Malfoy. I will talk to everyone at dinner time," Dumbledore voiced. Draco shook Dumbledore's outstretched hand and left his office.

That night after dinner, Dumbledore announced their idea. The most of the school loved it and were anxious to hear Draco play. Draco walked up to the piano that had appeared along with all of the other suggestions and sat down. A spotlight came on and he started out slowly gradually building up into a fast happy song. One thing Dumbledore had added was a dance floor for people who wanted to dance.

Draco was allowed a fifteen-minute break every hour. He went over to the bar to talk to Pansy.

"How's business, Pans?"

"Peachy keen, Drac. I see that you have gotten over your fear of playing in front of people," she teased him.

"Apparently. And I have to thank you for that Pansy. Thanks," Draco said and tried to hug Pansy over the bar.

Over time, everyone came to enjoy Draco's playing. It was the one thing that everyone agreed on. It seemed to have a power over them. Which it could have, once you thought about it.

People even seemed to come in from Hogsmeade on certain weekends. At first, Draco was against letting them in here, but once Dumbledore assured him that they checked their wands in at the door and that there was a spell on the room making it so there could be no harmful magic done, Draco relented.

On a night much like the rest, Draco had moved his piano near the bar.

"Play me a song, son."

Draco turned around startled. It was Lucius, sitting at the bar and his haggard look suggested to Draco that he had just been let out of Azkaban.

"A happy song from the old days before I became what I am," Lucius said.

Draco blinked a few times to make sure he wasn't dreaming and turned around to play the requested song. Pansy came over while Draco was playing and talked to him.

"Draco, I know you thought I was perfect for this job, but I think it's killing me. I'm sure that I could be a movie star if I could just graduate," Pansy whined to Draco.

"I think you will be fine, Pans. Graduation is not that far off. Then you can be a movie star, whatever that it," Draco responded.

Pansy smiled and went to help Professor Snape who was it seemed having an amiable conversation with Hermione Granger. _That's odd. I wonder what they are talking about. Probably school work_.

The song went on it seemed for a long time, which it did, since it was one of Lucius's favorite songs. Blaise Zabini and a few other of his Slytherin friends came over and wondered sarcastically what Draco was doing here. Draco laughed and continued to play. Everyone was having a wonderful time. The song ended and Draco took his fifteen-minute break. Hermione sat down next to Draco and started talking to him.

It was amazing how much they had in common. Hermione told Draco about how she had had a crush on him since their third year when she had slapped him. Draco confessed to Hermione that he had thought she was the one for him since the Quidditch Cup. Hermione smiled at him, one of her few smiled that she only smiled when she was truly happy. Hermione excused herself to go talk to Harry and Ron, got up and left.

Draco smiled and looked over at Dumbledore. He was sitting with some of the other teachers in a secluded corner. He looked at Draco and raised his glass of butterbeer. The perfect end to a perfect day.

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**Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. I got the idea from Billy Joel's song Piano Man, hence the title.**

_A/N: I hope you enjoyed it cause I enjoyed writing it. I also hope that you will R&R because that would be very nice, since I seem to not get any reviews… not even bad ones… sad really… Anyway, thanks for reading it. Oh yeah, and I would like your comments on the disclaimer and a/n's at the end. Do you like them better at the end or at the beginning? Thanks again._


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